Plier-type gear operated ratchet tool



April 22, 1958 M. P. wEls-s 2,831,384

PLIER-TYPE GEAR OPERATED RATCHET TOOL Filed June 8, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheetl April 22, 1958 M. P. wl-:lss 2,831,384

PLIER-TYPE GEAR OPERATED RATCHET TOOL Filed June' 8, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet2 INVENTOR. Marvin P. Weiss ATTORNEYS United States Patent A' O2,831,384 mama-TYPE GEAR oPEnATED RATCHET `TooL Marvin P. weiss, JacksonHeights, N. Y. Application June s, 1956, serial No. 590,165 13 claims.(ci. s1-s1) This invention relates generally to ratchet wrenches andmore particularly to a plier-type gear operated ratchet wrench.

There are many instances when one using a wrench such as a socket wrenchdoes not have the necessary space to move the handle in lever fashionmore than a few inches. When a tool of this type is used the bolt or nutwhich is being loosened or tightened is rotated with each movement ofthe handle only a fraction of a complete turn. The result is that along, fatiguing back and forth movement must be undertaken until thebolt or nut is completely loosened or tightened.

The invention herein disclosed has as its principal object the provisionof a socket wrench which will enable the operator to rapidly rotate abolt or nut which is mounted in such a position that there is littlesurrounding space wherein a tool may be used.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a socket wrenchwhich has a mechanical advantage so that slight movement of its handlewill effect many rotations of the socket portion and which may be usedas an ordinary wrench if it is so desired.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a tool having asocket portion which will be rotated when the tool handle is depressedand will be prevented from rotating when the handle is returned to itsoriginal position.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a safety meanswhich will prevent the tool from being damaged due to overloading.

. Still another object of the present invention .is to pro videa speedsocket tool which is of simple construction and has-relatively few partsso that it may be manufactured inexpensively.

The construction of the speed socket tool and manner of using the sameis described herein with reference to the drawings in which: Y:

Fig. 1 is a partially sectional side elevation of a tool embodying myinvention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the drawing shown the line 2 2,showing a socket positioned-` one direction and another socket shown inFig. 1 along for rotation in in phantom positioned for oppositerotation;

Fig. 3 is a partially sectional invention showing the handle of the toolin a depressed position; and

Fig. 4 is a front elevation in section showing in detail the interactionof the various gears;

l Fig. 5 is a partially sectional side elevation of the tool shown inFig. 1 with the handle thereof shown partially rotated;

Fig. 6 is a segmentary perspective view of the handle.

pivotal mounting.

The invention herein is described in terms of a socket wrench, however,it is to be understood that the socket head can be adapted to turn ascrew or other form of mechanical component of the Vtype which requiresturning about an axis.

side elevation of myl As shown in the figures, the tool consists of asupporting structure designated generally as 10 which is stamped belowwhen the out of metal and folded to form base 11 and sides 12 and 13which extend for the length of base l11. At one end of the supportingstructure each of the sides is restricted in height so that it can beeasily grasped in the hand of an operator.

Member 14 upon which is mounted socket 15 is rotatably supported bysides 12 Aand 13 in slots 12a and 13a respectively formed in the sides.Member14 is a conventional shaft having a hexagonal cross-section ateach of its end portions. This cross-sectional construction is employedso that conventional socket 15 when placed Athereon will be restrictedfrom rotary motion relative to member 14. However, member 14 can have adiiferently shaped cross-section or any other construction by whichrelative motion between member 14 and socket 15 is prevented.

The teeth of gear 16 which is also mounted on member 14 mesh with theteeth of gear 17 which is mounted on axial member 18. Axial member 18 isrotatably supported at each of its ends in slots in sides 12 and 13 oftool 10. Thus one end of member 18 is supported by side 12 in slot 12band the other end of member 1 8 is supported by side 13 in slot 13b.Axial member 18 is thereby supported in a plane parallel to base 11. Itwill be noted that gear 17 has a greater number of teeth than gear 16thereby effecting a step-up gear ratio between gear 17 and gear 16. Theoperation of pinion 19 which is also mounted on axial member 18 will beexplained below.

The ends of axial member 20 are tted in slots 21 and 22 in sides 12 and13 respectively. Member 20 is a cylindrical shaft forming an axis whichsupports gear section 23 and about which the gear section can pivot. Itwill be noted from Fig. 1 that slots 21 and 22 are identicaland'elongated having their major axes forming the same angle with base11 of structure 10. Semi-circular members 24 and 25 which are identicaland in spaced relation to each other extend from an end of handle 26.Members 24 and 25 partially encircle shaft 20 thereby forming a pivotalmounting for handle 26. Members 24 and 25 are so spaced that section 23is supported by shaft 20 between them and so that there can be relativerotational motion between section 23 and members 24 Section 23 andhandle 26 have surfaces thereon designated 27 and 23 respectively whichabut against each other when the handle is not completely depressed suchas seen in Pig. 1 and section 23 has in addition portion designated 29,which is formed to receive end 30 of leaf spring 31 as seen in Fig. 1.

Leaf spring 31 is maintained on handle 26 by being handle 26 and pin 32which is rigidly fastened to the handle. Portion 33 of handle 26maintains end 34 of leaf spring 31 in position on the handle.

It is seen in Fig. 1 that when the handle pletely depressed section 23is held in position by the abutment of surfaces 27 and 28 and end 30 ofleaf spring 31 which is engaging portion 29 of section 23. It is alsonoted that leaf spring 31 is held in such position that it is slightlyarcuate.

operation of the tool is considered.

The upper surface of axial member 20 is in contact with spring 35 whichis mounted on cover 36 at 37 and which yieldingly presses member 20downwardly in slots 21 and 22. Spring 35 cannot, however, force member20 from its upper position in slots 21 and 22 when the handle is notdepressed. This is because the underlying surface 23a of gear section 23is so formed Vthat it is in contact with base 11 when the handle is inthis position.

assisi 26 is not com- The reason for this will be explained moves out ofcontact with base 11 thereby allowingspring 3S to force member 20downwardly in slots 21 and 22. lt will be noted that in Fig. l wherehandle 26 isY shown in a released position, member 2i) is in the upperportion of slots 21 and 22, however, upon depression of handle 26 member20 will move to the lower portionofy slots 21 and 22.

It should be noted also that when member 20 is in the upper portion ofslots 21 and 22, `the distance between the axis ofrotatiou of gearsection23, whichis the center of the cross-section of member 2li, andthe axis of rotation of gear 19, which is the center of thecross-section of axial member 13,is so great that the teeth of gearsection 23 cannot mesh with the teeth of gear 19. However, when member2i) moves to a lower portion of slots 21 and 22l the distance betweenthe axes of rotation of gear 19 and gear section 23 will decrease sothat the teeth on gear section 23 mesh with the teeth on gear 19. InFig. 1 handle 26 is shown in a slightly depressed position such that thegear teeth of section 23 are beginning to mesh with the teeth of gear19.

Member 14 also' has rigidly connected thereto gear 40 the teeth of whichcooperate with pawl member 41 to provide ratchet action so that member14 is rotatable in one direction only. In Fig; l it is seen that singletooth 42 of pawl member 41 which is loosely mounted on shaft 18 liesbetween any pair of teeth on gear 40. ln this gure, these teeth aredesignated 43 and 44 for illustrative purposes. Edge 4S of pawl member41 is contacted by leaf spring 46 which yieldingly urges pawl member 41toward gear 40 and tooth 42 between teeth 43 and 44. Leaf spring 46 isfastened to base 11 at 47.

Gear 40 can rotate clockwise (as seen in Fig. l) since rotation in thatdirection will cause tooth 44 to push against tooth 42 and pawl member41 to pivot about shaft 18 in a counterclockwise direction forcing edge45 against leaf spring 46 which bends a bit due to itsI resiliencyallowing tooth 44 and the other teeth of gear 40 to become free fromtooth 42. If, however, it was attempted to rotate member 14counterclockwise, tooth 43 would be forced against.Y tooth 42. Due tothe construction of tooth 42 and pawl 41 the pawl would not.

pivot about its axis and a wedging action would result, thus preventingfurther counterclockwise rotation of member 14.

To use my invention toloo'sen a bolt, socket V1 5 is placed upon thebolt'and; handle 26 is depressed bythev operator against thefaction ofspring 38 which normally maintains handle 26 in the releasedy positionaway from base 11 of tool 10. I

When handle 26` is depressed in opposition to spring 38, member 20 isguided downwardly in the slots 21 and 22 by the action of spring andthe,endSaof spring 38 slides rearwardly in handle 2.6. As this is done, theteeth of gear section 23 engage the teeth on pinion `19 and as gearsection 2,3 rotates clockwise about member 20, shaft 18 rotatescounterclockwise in its mountings. As shaft 18 rotates counterclockwisemember 14 and socket are rotated clockwise by gear 17 which is mountedon shaft 18. The clockwise rotation of socket 15 continues until handle-26 is brought into a position wherein handle 26is ush with base 11.

It will be noted that pawl 41 has allowed gear- 40 to rotate clockwisewith shaft 14. Gear 16 Whichis attached to member 14 will continue` torotate clockwise until handle 26 is adjacent base 11. Howevenuponrelease of handle 26 spring '38` will force this handle back* into aposition away from base 11.

Pawl 41,` however, will not permit gear 4010 rotate.

counterclockwise since counterclockwise rotation of gear 40 will forcetooth 42 of pawl 41 into the teeth of gear 40 and prevent furthercounterclockwise rotation of member 14.

When handle 26 is released member 2i) moves upwardly in slots 21 and 22against the action of spring 35 thereby causing the teeth of gearsection 23 to disengage themselves from the teeth of gear 19.

In the present embodiment gear section 23 has the same number of teethas gear 19. Gear 17 has 32 teeth and gear 16 has 16 teeth giving a ratioof two to one. The gear section 23 moves through an arc of one inch andthe handle 24 moves through an are of four inches.

- This is a mechanical advantage of four; but with the two to one ratio,the net mechanical advantage is two. The net mechanical advantage may bechanged, however, by altering the various ratios.

An important feature of this invention is the overload protectionfeature. If an operator attempts to use the tool to rotate a bolt whichwas restricted from rotation the gears of the tool would be strippedwere not this safety feature provided.

Considering Fig. 1, it is seen that end 30 of leaf spring 31 ismaintained at portion 29 of section 23 by means of friction force. Thisforce is suiiicient to keep end 30 in portion 29 during normaloperation. lf, however, an overload condition is reached member 14 wouldnot turn and section 23 would not rotate but the operator would continueattempting to bring handle 26 in contact with base 11. Since gear 23 isunder this condition rigid, the friction which maintains end 30 inportion 29 would be overcome before any of the. gears are damaged and end 30 would rotate about shaft 20 until it became flush with base 11 butgear section 23 would not rotate and the condition seen in Fig. 3 wouldbe achieved. Upon release of handle 26, it would return to the releasedposition due to the action of spring 38.

Thus, among others, the several objects in the invention as specificallyaforenoted are achieved.

Obviously, numerous changes in construction and arrangement of the partsmight be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the inventionas defined by the claims.

I claim:

l. A hand tool comprising in combination a handle member, a rotatablemember mounted on said handle member, a gear section pivotally mountedon said handle member, gearmeans attached to said rotatable member, saidgear section having the 'teeth thereof normally disbei', second gearmeans mounted on said axial memberl and engaging said rst gear means, ashaftl rotatably mounted on said handle member, a gear section mounted.

onV means yieldngly urging the teeth of said gear section towardengagement with said second gear means, means maintaining said shaft,said'axial 4member and said shaft normally spaced apant so that theteeth of said gear sec- *i011 are diensased fromsaid second gear..means/,means for moving said shaft into a position where the teeth ofSaid gear section engage with saidA secondisear means and means forrotating said gear section.

v 3, A hand tool comprising in combination a fixed handle member, arotatable member mounted on said handle member, gear means mounted onsaid rotatable member, an axial member rotatably mounted on lsaid handlemember, second gear means mounted on said axial member, a pair ofparallel slots formed in said handle member, said slots lying in planesperpendicular to said axial member and having the upper portions of saidslots further removed from said axial member than the lower portions ofsaid slots, a shaft rotatably supported by said handle member in saidslots, a gear section mounted on said shaft, means for normallymaintaining said shaft in the upper portion of said slots whereby theteeth of said gear section are disengaged from said second gear means,means for moving said shaft to the lower portions of said slots wherebythe teeth of said gear section engage with said second gear means andmeans for rotating said gear section.

4. A hand tool in accordance with claim 3 in which the means formaintaining the shaft in the upper portions of the slots consists of asurface on the gear section contacting the handle member.

5. A hand tool in accordance with claim 3 in which the means forrotating the gear section consists of a lever which is attached to thegear section.

6. A hand tool comprising in combination a channel shaped fixed handlemember, a base portion of said handle member, a side of said handlemember perpendicular to said base portion, a second side of said handlemember parallel to said first side, said second side being spaced fromsaid rst side, a rotatable member supported by said sides, means forsupporting a work piece on said rotatable member, gear means mounted onsaid rotatable member, an axial member rotatably supported by saidsides, second gear means mounted on said axial member, a pair ofparallel slots formed in said sides, said slots having the upperportions thereof further removed from said axial member than the lowerportions of said slots, a shaft rotatably supported by said sides insaid slots, a gear section mounted on said shaft, a lever arm whichextends from said gear section, a spring attached to said handle memberand yieldingly urging said lever arm away from said base, an underlyingsurface of said gear section whiclris in contact with said base therebymaintaining said shaft in the upper portions of said slots and the teethof said gear section disengaged from said second gear means, and secondspring means attached to said mounting and yieldingly urging said shafttoward the lower portions of said slots, whereby upon movement of saidlever toward said base to remove said underlying surface from contactwith said base said second spring will force said shaft to the lowerportions of said slots so that the teeth of said gear section willengage with and rotate said second gear means.

7. A hand tool comprising in combination a fixed handle member, arotatable member mounted on said handle member, gear means mounted onsaid rotatable member, second gear means rotatably mounted on saidhandle member and engaging said first gear means, a gear sectionpivotally mounted on said handle member with the teeth thereof normallydisengaged from said second gear means, means yieldingly urgingengagement of the teeth of said gear section with said second gearmeans, means for preventing engagement of the teeth of said gear Sectionwith said second gear means in one position of the gear section, meansfor rotating said gear section about its pivotal mounting to change itsposition and ratchet means mounted in relation to said handle member andengaging said rotatable member to allow said rotatable member to rotatesolely one way.

8. A hand tool comprising in combination a fixed handle member, arotatable member mounted on said handle member, gear means mounted onsaid rotatable member, an axial member rotatably mounted on said handlemember, second gear means mounted on said axial member and engaging saidfirst gear means, a shaft rotatably mounted on said handle member, agear section mounted on said shaft, means for maintaining said axialmember and said shaft normally spaced apart so that the teeth of saidgear section are disengaged from said second gear means, meansyieldingly urging said axial member and said shaft toward each other,means for releasing means for maintaining the said axial member and saidshaft apart so that said shaft can shift into a position where the teethof said gear section engage with said second gear means, means forrotating said gear section, third gear means mounted on said rotatablemember, a pawl loosely mounted on said axial member, a tooth on saidpawl, and means yieldingly urging said tooth to engage said third gearmeans, said pawl being so constructed and arranged that said third gearmeans can slip by said tooth solely in one direction of rotation of saidrotatablev member.

9. A hand tool comprising in combination a fixed handle member, arotatable member mounted on said handle member, gear means mounted onsaid rotatable member, an axial member rotatably mounted on said handlemember, second gear means mounted on said axial member and engaging saidfirst gear means, a shaft rotatably mounted on said handle member, agear section mounted on said shaft, means for maintaining said axialmember and said shaft being normally spaced apart so that the teeth ofsaid gear section are disengaged from said second gear means, meansyieldingly urging said axial member and said shaft toward each other,means for releasing the means for maintaining said axial member and saidshaft apart so that said shaft will move into a position where the teethof said gear section engage with said second gear means, means forrotating said gear section, third gear means mounted on said rotatablemember, a pawl loosely mounted on said axial member, a tooth on saidpawl, and a spring attached to said handle member and yieldingly urgingsaid tooth to engage said third gearmeans, said pawl being soconstructed and arranged that upon rotation of said rotatable member ina predetermined direction said third gear means can press against saidtooth and pivot said pawl about said axial member against the urging ofsaid spring whereby said third gear means can slip by said tooth.

l0. in a hand tool a shaft, a gear section mounted on said shaft, alever mounted on said shaft, a surface on said gear section, a secondsurface on said lever, a third surface on said gear section, a membermounted on said lever, said member having an end thereof frictionallyengaging said third surface whereby said first and second surfaces aremaintained in contact.

ll. in a hand tool a handle member, a shaft supported by said handlemember, a gear section mounted on said shaft, a lever mounted on saidshaft, a surface on said gear section, a second surface on said levernear a third surface on said gear section, a leaf spring mounted on saidlever, said spring having an end thereof frictionally engaging saidthird surface and yieldingly urging said irst and second surfacestogether.

l2. A hand tool comprising in combination a channel shaped fixed handlemember, a base portion of said handle member, a side of said handlemember perpendicular to said base portion, a second side of said handlemember parallel to said lirst side, said second side being spaced fromsaid first side, a rotatable member supported by said sides, means forsupporting a work piece on said rotatable member, gear means mounted onsaid rotatable member, an axial member rotatably supported by saidsides, second gear means mounted on said axial member, a pair ofparallel slots formed in said sides, said slots having the upperportions thereof further removed from said axial member than the lowerportions of said slots, a shaft rotatably supported by said sides insaid slots, a gear section mounted on said shaft, a lever arm mounted onsaid shaft, a surface on said gear section, a second surface on saidlever arm, a third surface on said gear section, a member mounted onsaid lever, said member having an end thereof frictionally engaging saidthird surface whereby said lirst and second surfaces are maintained inContact, a spring attached to said handle member and yieldingly urgingsaid lever arm away from said base, an underlying surface of said gearsection which is in contact with said base thereby maintaining saidshaft in the upper portions of said slots and the teeth of said gearsection disengaged from said second gear means, second spring meansattached to said mounting and yieldingly urging said shaft toward thelower portions of said slots whereby upon movement of said lever towardsaid base to remove said underlying surface from Contact with said base,said second spring will force said shaft to the lower portions of saidslots so `that the teeth of said gear section Will engage with androtate said second gear means, third gear means mounted on saidrotatable member, a pawl loosely mounted on said axial member, a toothon said pawl, a third spring attached to said mounting and yieldingly'urging said tooth to engage said third gear means, said pawl being soconstructed and arranged that upon rotation of said rotatable member ina predetermined direction said third gear means can press against saidtooth and pivot said pawl about said axial member against the urging ofsaid third spring, whereby said third gear means can slip by said tooth.

13. In a hand tool a handle member, a gear section rotatably mounted onsaid handle member, gear means supported by said handle member andmeshedwiththe teeth of said gear section, a surface on said gear section, alever pivotally mounted on said handle member, a second surface of saidlever, said second surface abutting said Lfirst surface, spring meansyieldingly urging said iirst and second surfaces in abutment duringnormal rotation of said gear section, and said spring means having acompression force which is overcome when a predetermined force preventssaid gear means and said gear section from rotating normally.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS ,v-:--V-:f--r--H-f-n-f-f-t Apr' 1,121,668 Rusk et al. Dec. 22, 19141,346,505 Mitchell July 13, 1920 1,970,721 Walton Aug. 2l, 19342,539,861 Robinson Ian. 30, 1951 2,600,177 Able et al. June 10, 19522,633,044 Pasquariello Mar. 31, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 82,355 Sweden Jan.8, 1935

